Lothern – Silver Helm Stables

Tucked in the south-western corner of Lothern are the mighty Silver Helm stables, where the mightiest steeds of Ulthuan are raised and trained for war. The Silver Helms consist of the sons of nobles of Ulthuan named for their ilthilmar helmets which they decorate with various trophies from their exploits; they are the heavy cavalry of the Asur. Though they are of noble blood, the Silver Helms when in training are treated like regular soldiers; and so they learn to live a tough life in times of peace so that when war threatens Ulthuan they are not longing for the comforts of home. While the Silver Helms rest in tents, their steeds reside in magnificent stables fit for nobles. The Silver Helm Stables are a small town within the great city of Lothern with a small army of blacksmiths and stable-hands tending to the great beasts. Few outsiders choose to enter the Silver Helm stables for it is a tight-knit fraternity with a somewhat exclusive air about it.It is said that due to this common sentimentality towards mighty beasts, the White Lions of Chrace, the personal bodyguards of the Phoenix King, also choose to reside near the Silver Helm Stables. Though the Silver Helms are a proud breed of knights, they fear and respect the White Lions who freely walk among the stables with their lion-skin pelts on display. The Silver Helms believe that the White Lions commune with their mighty steeds and fill them with the spirit of the fallen lions and thus a strange brotherhood is formed between the humble Chracian axe-men and the noble Silver Helms.

This Public Quest is the first of what I would like to call ‘Dual Access Public Quest’. The Horn of Chrace is located under the sky-bridge between the Unicorn Tower and the smaller tower to the north. The invader has two options here in terms of attack – the short hard route through the Silver Helm Stables, or the long easy route through the Cliffs of Lothern.

The Cliffs of LothernEast of the Silver Helm Stables a small tower is nestled between the walls of the stables and the Tower of Teclis. However, this tower can only be entered by someone with a lockpick ability who can destroy the door from within allowing access to the rest of his party. The tower leads downwards into one the vast labyrinths and tunnels under Lothern, the particular one to the Cliffs of Lothern and the dozens of Lothern Sea Guard siege crews that man various powerful implements of war facing the Great Ocean. Intricately carve into the southern cliffs of Lothern are massive statues of the Phoenix Kings spanning the entire height of the cliffs. The siege crews unsuspecting an attack from behind and poorly armed for single combat are a much easier fight, but the vast tunnels through the Cliffs of Lothern are a longer more indirect route to the Horn of Chrace. Battling ones way through the Cliffs of Lothern one travels west along the cliffs and then once under the Unicorn Tower turns north to ascend and emerge at the smaller tower to the north of the Unicorn Tower. From here one can proceed south and sound the Horn of Chrace calling her champion.

The Silver Helm Stables
A more direct route, and far shorter, is to attack the Silver Helm Stables and her defenders. The mobs here are far more numerous, well-armed, and in general difficult – after all you are fighting the elite cavalry of Ulthuan. The instant the invaders near the Silver Helm Stables a clarion call sounds from within the Stable walls and immediately the Silver Helms muster in battle formation facing the gate. There are literally ranks upon ranks of Silver Helms in full battle array once the invaders open the main gate, all of them champions. Attacking one Silver Helm in a rank will result in pulling the entire rank. For this fight it will be crucial for the Second in Command and Siege master to coordinate their reinforcements. After defeating the main courtyard of the Silver Helms one can proceed to the Commander’s Quarters to engage a Silver Helm of hero quality and his retinue; however, one must use caution in this battle for there are siege weapons on the plateau above. Once these have been defeated the invaders can proceed up the steps to sound the Horn of Chrace.

KorhilOnce the Horn of Chrace has been sounded an imposing figure emerges from the Unicorn Tower; he is none other than Korhil, Captain of the White Lions. Korhil is a 66 MPAT level 58 Lord (for a description of what a 66 MPAT is, refer to my Introduction to Eka’s Supreme Ward Dungeon post.) In regards to what his mechanic is, he has every ability, tactic, and morale a White Lion has and will use them all with flexibility in combat; thus, Korhil’s mechanic cannot be predicted. In order to work with lore Korhil’s pet is not in fact a living white lion, but rather the spirit of the lion he slayed to gain his fame, Charandis, which is a level 50 hero. Anytime Charandis is slain, Korhil will resummon him again after a few seconds.
Charandis acts both in unison and separately from Korhil. Confusing as this may sound, his mechanic allows for him to focus on whoever Korhil is on, but he may randomly charge at a secondary target and use a crowd control ability on them – all the crowd control abilities in this fight are on Charandis, thus it is highly unrecommended for the main-tank to hold both Korhil and Charandis. Killing Charandis is required to temporarily remove the crowd control factor of this fight and his additional damage, focusing purely on Korhil will quickly strain the healers and tanks of the party.
Korhil aside from being a 66 MPAT has two features unique to him which all White Lions can long for. He is a dual-wield White Lion for additional parry(his main axe being Chayal, which allows him to do more damage the lower his target’s health is) and he has incredibly high corporeal resistance due to his Pelt of Charandis.
This fight also has a unique factor to it in that there is a balcony above the door of the Unicorn Tower and at undetermined intervals a steward of the Tower emerges and begins to sound his clarion call, every 10 seconds producing a White Lion champion from the Unicorn Tower. To counter this he must be silenced; at the end of the silence he will retreat back into the tower.
Upon defeating Korhil he has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a repairable Monarch Belt for range and melee dps classes. He also has an ‘x’% chance of dropping a charm for Zealots – “Skull of Charandis”.

LoreKorhil’s lore is pretty much as I have described him. He rose to fame as the most powerful White Lion of Chrace, and arguably the most powerful elf of Ulthuan by slaying a massive lion twisted by Chaos powers from the Annulii which had slain many warriors and innocents of Ulthuan. However, he could not slay this massive lion by normal means for his axe would not cut the lions hide so he had to wrestle the beast to the ground and choke it to death. He is unique in his wielding of two axes, one of which is enchanted thus making it extremely light and powerful. His most famous exploit beyond the slaying of Charandis is the defense of Tor Achrae. Finubar trusts him to such a degree that Korhil often leads armies alone.